Dirigible air sailing craft



Sept. 27, 1932- A. H. LAWRENCE DIRIGIBLE AIR-SA/LING CRAFT Filed April15. 1929 Attorney Patented Sept. 27, 1932 UNITED STATES yanvar: H.LAWRENCE,

DIRIGIBLE AIR ,'Appneation med April 15,

My invention relates to improvements in dirigible air sailing craft andit more especially consists of the features pointed out in the annexedclaims.

The purpose of my invention is to provide a lighter than air craft whichwill aord a high degree of efficiency in creating a vacuum in front ofthe air ship to reduce resistance to its forward movementand at the sametime utilize the density of the air at the rear or sides of the ship topropel it; that combines with a ship water floatable cabins and watersailing propellers and rudder; that may arrange air propellers alongsideof the i ship adjustable in a horizontal and vertical that may be heldmotionless in the7 air; that may be directly raised or lowered; that maybe bodily moved sideways; that may be steered by the cooperation of thedifferent motors; that uses the motors positioned at the extreme outerangles of transverse quadrilatyeral or other angularity frames so as tobe in free air without having their efficient operation reduced bythenear proximity of the ships body;'.that may if desired have the cabinwithin the body; and that through 85 the use of my propelling system theship can be raised vertically without loosing ballast and loweredvertically without the lossof gas from the buoyancy cells.

With these and other ends in View. I'.

illustrate on the accompanying drawing such instances of adaptation aswill disclose the broad underlying features of my invention withoutlimiting myself to the speci fie details shown thereon and describedherein.

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic front elevation showing the main Aframes indotted lines.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of an adjustable propeller drive.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of OF HAMLET, INDIANA SAILINGCRAFT 1929. Serial No. 355,110.

a simple form of motor controls located in the pilots cabin.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic plan view of Fig. l.

Inl carrying my invention into commercial use I may employ whateverequivalents or alternatives of construction that the varying eXigenciesof different conditions may demand without departing from the broadspirit of the invention.

The air ship comprises an air floatable body 1 to which is suspended awater floatable cabin 2. Near the bow at the top of the body a pilotscabin 3 is placed. A power plant 4 may be located at the rear 65 end ofthe cabin 2. This power plant furnishes light for the ship and powerfo-r the air propellers. It also has connected therewith a waterpropeller 5 placed in advance 'of a water steering rudder 6. Thisarrangement serves as an emergency equipment, in case the air ship forany reason is obliged to descend onto a body of water. It may becontrolled in the air by a steering rudder 7 and altitude wings 8. Theseconventional meansare accessory to. universally mounted, individuallydriven air pronellers 14 which by reason of their being adjustable bothin a horizontal and vertical direction simultaneously throughout 360degrees on two planes at right angles to each other assist in drivingthe shin straight ahead. right or left. and up ory down. as desired. Inthe use of the words. through 360 degrees. or throughout 360 degrees, orthroughout 85 more than 360 degrees. in the claims or in thespecification. I do not limit myself to these exact degrees as anapproximation .of them falls within the scope of my invention.

An important feature of my invention is the use of a puller airpropeller 10 placed at the bow of the ship, in order to -create a vacuumby the rapid removal of the air from in front of the bow through thelongitudinal tube 9. On each side of the ship at its stern is placed apushing air propeller 11 which cooperates withv the propeller 10 at thebow, the latter reducing the air 100 resistance and the former actingagainst the dense air at the rear.

The body 1 maybe formed of any desired number of tetrahedral frames12,'of which only four'are shown in Fig. 1.' The center square of eachframe forms an opening through which the lengthwise air shaft 9 passes.The interior ofthe body ma be arranged as desired for the reception otheA gas containers. lStairways, passageways, etc., from one part of theship to another may be placed where most needed to afford communicationbetween the pilotsA cabin, the adjustable propellers, the main cabin,the power plant, the pulling and pushing propellers, etc., etc., (notshown).

A main supply line 13 extends from the power plant 4 to the pilotscabin, .and distributing lines 21 lead from there to the different motordrives. Any desired type of switching system, exemplified onlydiagrammatically in Fig. 4, may be used. This feed line 22 serves thehorizontally adjusting motor 17 feed line 23 serves the verticallyadjusting motor 18, and feed line 24 serves the motor Vwhich drives thepropeller 14. The propellers 14 may be directed up or down by motors 18,and to the right or left by motors 17, from the pilots cabin, as needed.The connections may comprise any `form f of remote controls that arewell known so `as to start, stop, and reverse the motors 17 and 18, andthe driving motors for the sailing propellers 14, and the drivingpropellers 10 and 11. This type of connections with the cooperativemotor windings is so well known that they are not shown.4

The motors 17 and 18 are suitably supported in frames 15.' Motor 17 issupported by the frame 15 which turns on vertical pivots 20. In theframe 16 the motor for the propeller 14 is positioned. It has movementon the horizontal pivots 19. Each of the motors 17 and 18 may beconnected to the respective pivots 20 and 19 byi'any form of well knownworm drive.

If desired, any form of control 25 may be placed in the air shaft 9, asa door or otherwise, to retard the passage of air through the shaft ortunnel, close it entirely Yor leave it wide open. A separate motor 26isl indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 1 for operating the door ineither directionthe motor being under remote control from the pilotscabin, in a well known manner, similar to the controls for motors 17 and18. rlLhe motors for the propellers 10 and 11 may v'also be controlledfor stopping, starting, andl reversing,Y

into service. The frames 16 may-be made large enough so that thepropellers 14 can be' set to rotate in a horizontal plane to assist inraising or lowerin the ship. By reason of this expedient the s 'p can bemaneuvered with great certainty and safety. Motors 17 and 18 may bepositioned wherever desired on the body 1, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2they are supplemented by vertical and horizontal air rudders.

The motors 17 and 18 have been referred to as capable of being stopped,started and Vreversed. `The motors need not however be reversedas theframe 16 can be rotated 360 degrees, and the motor 28 can also be swungon the pivots 19 throughout 360 degrees, which facility may be takenadvantage of instead of reversing the motors, it being onlyl 10, as wellas the motor 31 for the turbine or propeller 27, may all'be reversibleas desired.4

It is understood that though I have shown propellers driven by electricmotors I do not limit myself to the exclusive use of electricity as anyother source of power may be used.

What I claim is:

1. In lighter than air ships, an'air floatable body, a longitudinal airpassage extending throughout the length of the ship, a propeller at thebow of the ship positioned in front of the air passage for pullingpurposes, and a pair of propellers at the stern of the ship positioned`one on each side of the air passage and at the rear of the horizontalrud' ders.

2. In air traversing ships, an air oatable body, a cabin and a powerplant suspended therefrom, a plurality of electric `motors andpropellers attached to the ship, and means for swinging the motorsvertically through -each other at right angles to each other, and

a power plant in common for the motors.

4. In 'loatable air ships, an air fioatable body, propellers for drivingthe ship, separate propellers operable independently on separate -planesthroughout 360 degrees at right angles to each other adapted toaccelerate, retard, directly raise and lower the ship,

and accessory air rudders attached to the ship whereby during cruisingthe main propellers will move the ship forward and the separatepropellers will directly raise or lower it or bodily move it sideways orhold it at rest or in movement at a given elevation, or counteract themain propellers in stopping. 5. In combination, an air iioatable body, asupporting water loatable cabin, `a plurality of quadrilateral frames towhichy the body and cabin are attached, and a plurality of motorspositioned at the extreme outer angles of the frames.

6. In air ships, an air iloatable body having an air shaft extendingthroughout the length thereof such shaft being enlarged conically at thebow of the ship, two separate` systems for moving the ship, onecomprising a propeller positioned in advance of the air shaft and oneach side horizontally of the shaft at the stern of the ship,- andindependent propellers positioned adjacent the sides ofthe ship adaptedto operate throughout 360 degrees in more than one plane and adapted tomove the ship up or down sidewise and forward or backward independentlyof the cruising propellers.

7. In air ships, an air 4iloatable body, a supporting water iloatablecabin, two separate systems for moving the ship, one comprising apropeller positioned at the bow of the ship and on each sidehorizontally at the stem of the ship for cruising urposes, and anothercomprising indepen ent propellers positioned adjacent the sides of theship on the plane ofthe bottom and the top adapted to operate throughoutmore lthan i 360 degrees in more than one plane independently of eachother for moving the ship up or down, sidewise or forward or backwardindependentl of the cruising prop ellers or holding t e ship motionlessin the air. In testimony whereof I aix ALVAH H.

